I read an article by mikeerik here on IGN recently about his choices for an Expendables-like team of video game characters which would make for an awesome movie or game. This inspired me enough to shamelessly rip it off and make my own, so below are my choices for the video game expendables and why. Enjoy!

Be warned, there are very mild spoilers for the plots of the games some of these characters are involved in.

1. Leon S. Kennedy - Resident Evil

I don't care what they say, formal shoes are the ideal wear for zombie fighting.

I don't particularly like the Expendables movies, but I do like Resident Evil, and Leon S. Kennedy is one of the main reasons.

Perhaps the embodiment of "awesome zombie hunter ladies man", Leon is never afraid to spout inappropriate one-liners at zombies, horrific bio-organic weapons, parasitically infected eastern Europeans or Ada Wong, all whilst being the only person in the world capable of rocking the emo cut and still get the ladies. The thing that solidifies Leon as the first member of my team is not his expertise with firearms, ability to quip at zombies hours into a hellish biological apocalypse nor his inherent stylishness. It is simply that bit in Resident Evil: Damnation when he goes "Tsch... women". A line so good they named an RE6 achievement after it.

You touched the hair. Now die.

2. The protagonist - Persona 4

While searching this picture I found pictures of cosplayers of him. Persona is forever ruined.

His official name is Yu Narukami, but any of you who have played Persona 4 or, as I have, its Vita remake Golden, will know him by whatever name you chose. Forget both of those.

His real name is Bastian Hidatchi and anyone who disputes it thus will receive an immediate slap to the face. My hand will come out of your monitor and slap you. In the face.

That aside, this guys oozes coolness. He invented it. If you look up swag in the dictionary you will find a picture of his face. He is fully capable of transferring to a remote Japanese village where no one's heard of him and go out with every girl he knows, at the same time, within the year.He will do all this while wearing a pop collar, using a hidden side of himself to fight shadow monsters inside a TV world, improving the lives of numerous people in the town, and being a 17 year old who has grey hair. Calm down.

And those piercing grey eyes.

In short, no bitchin' gaming team would be worth its salt without him, but it can be a burden as his presence makes everyone else look bad.

3. Agent Spin - Elite Beat Agents

Aaaaawww yeeeeeea.

There's very little I have to say to describe this guy that isn't immediately apparent from the picture. He wears sunglasses, upside-down over-ear headphones and a suit, and he's incredible. This is a government agent who responds to a crisis which has reached breaking point by dancing, dancing so smooth that he can motivate someone to overcome any obstacle, be it asking out a potential boyfriend whilst trying to handle some troublesome toddlers or saving a young boy from a giant fire-breathing golem in a theme park. No matter what trouble my team finds itself in in their numerous movies they can rest assured that Spin will have the perfect tune and the perfect moves to help them beat anything.

4. A Monster Hunter - Monster Hunter

Flame sword! Point invalid!

Monster Hunter is one of my favorite gaming franchises of all time, and it's certainly my most cherished. Only problem is I'm not sure which part of the series resonates with me the most. Is it dressing up a pig and hugging it until it loves you? Employing cats to cook your food for you? Having a cat with you to help you fight? Or perhaps it's the fighting giant, awesome monsters with the most totally awesome armor and weapons ever conceived in a video game? I'll never know the answer, but what I do know is a Monster Hunter is a must have on my team. By my logic, if you can fight a giant dragon dinosaur and win, you can be in the team.

Or just, you know, tame the dragon. Whatever.

5. Mikasa - the Attack on Titan fan game

I'm starting to dread looking up images of these characters. The results are mostly disturbing.

Before I start on this one I want to point out that the Attack on Titan fan game is totally awesome, totally free and you can play it here: http://fenglee.com/game/aog/.

Anime has never been a staple of my TV diet. True, I've always liked the art style and am a big fan of Studio Ghibli's movies, but my viewing experience outside of those has previously been limited to a brief fascination with One Piece and whatever crap 4kids used to edit. Nevertheless I decided to try Attack on Titan after hearing good things about it from you guys on IGN and was immediately hooked. The main thing that does it for me is the fact that the 3D-maneuver gear used by the soldiers in the show is perhaps the most brilliant (and hilariously impractical, as you quickly find out playing the game) way of moving anywhere, ever. Couple this with the dual swords used to attack the aforementioned titans and you have the recipe for a great, super difficult and super addicting game.

As for Mikasa, she is easily my favorite character in the show (and the default character in the game) for many reasons, the main ones being:

Inherent awesomeness

Eren whines too much

She's not overtly sexualised a'la a lot of female characters in anime and gaming

The scarf

If Leon's shooting everything, Hidatchi's swagging it out with a katana, Spin's bustin' a move and the Monster Hunter is hunting Monsters, Mikasa will be shooting around everywhere at blistering speeds, calmly and coolly cutting the necks out of anything that moves and is over 6 metres tall. And has a neck. She's also the first female team member, which proves I'm not a sexist.

Just lonely.

6. Ada Wong - Resident Evil

No, she will not marry you.

I spent a while (read: 5 seconds) trying to decide whether to pick Leon or Ada as my Resident Evil member, and ended up picking both. The fact of the matter is I feel equally awesome running at zombies and kicking them in the face as Leon as I do suavely strolling up to them and putting an arrow through their head as Ada. In Resident Evil 6 (my only experience playing as her) Ada is an enigmatic, elegant and mysterious agent who spends most of her time being condescending to the bad guy, deliberately not explaining things to people and playing hard-to-get with Leon. What's not to like?

When I play as Ada in Resident Evil 6 the character turns around and gives me disapproving looks whenever I move faster than a stroll. She is so insanely dignified and intelligent that I feel I have personally let her down when I miss a shot. Her idle animation is crossing her arms and rolling her eyes at everything. You get the point. In fact, the only time she's not being super elegant is when she's unconscious in Leon's arms, which is surprisingly touching for a game featuring a man who turns into a dinosaur.

Despite her numerous douchey traits Ada still gets a spot in the team because dammit, she's Ada Wong and despite being somewhat over-sexualised in the games it's kind of cancelled out by the fact that she's effortlessly more intelligent and cool than any other character in RE6 and, in fairness, Leon shows just as much cleavage as she does. Seriously, scroll up.

Also, she has a cube as a phone.

7. Isaac Clarke - Dead Space

Not pictured: Plasma Cutter aimed at your crotch.

Dead Space is one of my favorite games of all time. It embodies what I love about sci-fi: the terror of the unknown, deep space exploration, the nostromo-like USG Ishimura and the ancient, horrific alien menace. It was one of the first horror experiences I ever had in my life, before I watched Alien or any of the numerous sci-fi classics which inspired it and it scared the crap out of me. It was brilliant.

Being the main protagonist of one of my favorite ever games, you can tell in how high a regard I hold Isaac Clarke. In the original Dead Space he was an everyman, a (mostly) faceless guy scared out of his mind whom the player could relate to and sympathize for as more and more things went horrifically wrong for him. In the sequels he's brought to life by the excellent voice acting and mocap of Gunner Wright. He becomes a real person who, despite now having a story, character arc and two love interests (only one of which is a apparition of his mind!) is still relatable and sympathetic.

Most importantly though, Isaac Clarke is a badass. He is an intergalactic badass. You can throw him inside the bowels of hell itself with nothing but a RIG and a torch and he'll get out of there with a fully loaded chain gun he built himself from wood and power nodes and only mild dementia to say for it. He is a survivor, and an awesome one at that.

"Three narrow eye slits are all I need to cut your arms off."

8. Siris - Infinity Blade

Padrie. Decavonse.

Very rarely does a platform have an undisputed "best" game among gaming aficionados, but somehow Infinity Blade managed to do it on IOS. I played it near-constantly. I loved the unique premise, beautifully rendered environments, atmospheric soundtrack, intuitive gameplay and awesome armor and weapons. Then Infinity Blade 2 came out and somehow managed to be better than the original in every way. I still don't know how they did it.

In the transition from the last best game on IOS to the current best game on IOS the main character of the game went from "nameless bloke what is the son of the nameless bloke who just died" to "Siris, immortal badass who also happens to be a master swordsman". He can wield pretty much any weapon and be able to smash a giant's face in with it, and still pull a cool pose immediately afterwards. Every time. Needless to say he's great, and has some pretty cheesy lines to boot.

"WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

9. Rocket Racer - Lego Racers

This guy...

Lego Racers is one of the first games I ever played, which makes Rocket Racer one of the first final bosses I ever faced in a game. To reach this guy you have to race that asshole vampire with all the bats, the douche bag alien who constantly rocket boosts and the damnable pirate who constantly shoots cannons at you. Then there's Rocket Racer.

Imagine playing a racing game where one of the ai constantly teleports in front of you, all the time. That's exactly what happens when you race him, and the feeling of "screw you" when you win is palpable. So Rocket Racer is the final member of my Video Game expendables team because he has a teleporting rocket car (which looks awesome) and he's the embodiment of a douche. Sorted.

So what do you guys think? Any characters you agree with or would change? Who would you have in your Video Game Expendables? Greatly interested to hear other people's ideas, and don't forget to check out mikeerik's team as well.